High Nitrates everything else in order

[SPIREEFER]

Im a bit new to the reef aspect of saltwater tanks used to keep FOWLR but now I'm starting to table in the coral world. I did a water test today and my nitrates are super high 60 but i don't overfeed and i just did a water change 1 week ago, i rum a Red Sea Reefer 350 with a Octopus Skimmer 150SS, have a biopelet reactor (installed a week ago), a GFO, and a carbon reactor, Calcium is at 500, Alk at 10, and Mag at 1500. I tried in the past to dose with Vodka and with other products and have not been able to drop those nitrates, ANY help would be appreciated.

 

[Ty Hamatake]

What test kit are you using? 60 is high enough that there should be a notable reduction after a larger water change. To check you out, I would test a new batch of water and see what you come up with, then test you tank water, do a 25ish percent WC, and see if the results match what they should mathematically (45 down from 60 if your new water came out 0) or at least close.

 

[mcarroll]

Or, just don't worry about it. Nitrates aren't generally harmful.

How is your PO4 level and the rest of your test results?

Be careful running all those nutrient exports as you risk provoking a bloom of something even worse.

I would shut down the bio-pellet reactor especially....the tank is way too new to need one of those. Plus, GFO does nothing for NO3....it make actually be making things worse.

 

[SPIREEFER]

The tank has been up for 1 year and a half, phosphates are near 0, I'm using a Api test kit which I'm starting to doubt.

 

[mcarroll]

The tank has been up for 1 year and a half, phosphates are near 0

I don't doubt a zero reading....the problem with liquid PO4 tests is when you want to differentiate between "a little" and "just a little more". But get your water tested at the LFS if you're really in doubt.

I would definitely decommission all the carbon dosing and GFO right now though.

They are going to exacerbate things rather than clearing them up......your tank has been experience a PO4 shortage. That stops everything from growing normally, including your nitrifying bacteria. Further, it promotes physiological and behavioral shifts in the microbial food web of your tank so that your bacteria end up being eaten at a much higher rate. Everything depends on PO4, so this is actually affecting more than just these things you've noticed and what I've described.

First take the extra filtration offline and see what happens for a few days or a week. If your get no change in the tank or PO4 test, then I'd consider dosing some phosphate fertilizer – I know Brightwell and Seachem both make suitable products, and I imagine there are others. (DIY too but I'd save that for later.)

You might find that after just a few days or a week of dosing PO4 things turn around and NO3 starts to clear.

BTW, the NO3 is not a problem, so don't stress out trying to get rid of your nitrates if the tank is doing fine!!!

 

[mcarroll]

(The ocean is actually PO4 limited too in many instances, so this isn't a weird situation. It just seems weird because we kind of go around thinking that "zero nutrients is The Way™" for some reason. The reality is that the corals we keep grow very well in a wide range of circumstances in nature, from nutient-poor up to nutrient-rich....but they always need good all-around conditions, including consistent nutrients, to do it.)

 

[SPIREEFER]

My worry is I'm getting a cpl of sps acros this week, I have all the other right paramters and flow and lighting but ive heard they don't tolerate high nitrates.

 

[mcarroll]

Possibly, but they're going to be really really intollerant of zero PO4.

NO3 can have side-effects that they're pretty good at moderating under favorable circumstances so NO3 is not a big worry to me. Zero PO4 has many directly harmful side-effects....a new coral will have a very, very hard time adapting to your lights or coping with them without ample PO4.

If you're worried (you'd know your gut feeling better than me!) then put off the coral purchases until the tank is ship-shape! No question to me on that.

 

[mcarroll]

The part about PO4 side-effects wasn't worded as well as it could have been.

PO4 is necessary for many biological functions. How about that.

Check out the Nutrients section on my blog for tons of related material that talk about the why's and how's of what PO4 does for a reef and for corals in particular.

 

[SPIREEFER]

So now there's a little brown algae developing on the sand bed not much and just in a corner bit it kinda looks like the one that developed when the tank was cycling is this good or bad? Turned off the gfo reactor off btw for now.

 

[mcarroll]

Probably fine. Continue keeping an eye on things of course.

 

[mcarroll]

Have you added anything to the tank yet, or were you saying that shutting off the skimmer is all you've done so far?

Keep an eye on the tank for that too – mostly just in case the skimmer was doing significant aeration for you.

 

[SPIREEFER]

The skimmer is on just shut down the gfo and carbon reactors.